Workforce Development
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| Students receive short-term vocational training at Politeknik Caltex Riau, an Indonesian polytechnic university, under a USAID/Chevron partnership for tsunami recovery |
USAID works with developing countries to build the skills and capacity of their workforces to support economic growth and competitiveness, as well as to stabilize societies after conflict or natural disaster. Workforce development programs assist youth and adults in acquiring knowledge and developing skills, attitudes, and behaviors to find secure jobs, establish viable self-employment ventures, and stay employed and productive in a changing economy. USAID programs create policies, programs, and systems that respond to labor market demands in both the formal and informal sectors. Linking the public and private sectors through partnerships is a hallmark of USAID’s approach to building sustainable, demand-driven workforce programs.
USAID workforce development programs focus on systemic reform, partnership development, workforce readiness, and technical/vocational education and training. To accomplish its workforce development goals, USAID strives to:
- Deliver holistic programming to at-risk, out-of-school youth in post-conflict environments to help them develop livelihood skills, find or create employment, and continue with their education through programs such as USAID/Haiti’s IDEJEN Project and USAID/Rwanda’s Youth Opportunity Network
- Connect secondary school and university students to employers through career development programs, mentoring, internships, and job placement services such as USAID/Somalia’s Livelihood Opportunities Resource Center and USAID/Jordan’s TATWEER and Economic Opportunities for Jordanian Youth (INJAZ II) projects.
- Develop youth employability skills, such as critical thinking and facility with computer technology through programs like USAID/India’s Youth Skill Development Initiative (EK MOUKA), as well as specific technical/vocational skills, in response to industry workforce demands through USAID/Armenia’s BRIDGE Project
- Build linkages between education and training institutions, private sector companies, and community groups to foster local and regional competitiveness and satisfy needs for qualified workers through programs such as USAID/Dominican Republic’s Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA) Workforce Development program
- Assist developing country governments to develop and implement sound policies and build capacity to manage workforce development systems. An example of this kind of programming is USAID/Ghana’s Trade and Industry Reform Plan (TIRP)
- Contribute to economic growth and private sector capacity building by creating workforce development programs such as USAID/Cambodia’s Garment Industry Productivity Center and Sri Lanka’s Private Enterprise and Competitive Expansion (PEACE) Project that increase employee skills and industry development.
- Build the human and institutional capacity of technical and vocational schools in developing countries by creating and modifying workforce and entrepreneurial curricula in to meet the skill needs and practical experience of the productive sectors in developing countries. Examples of 70 workforce and entrepreneurial partnerships in 29 countries can be viewed at: www.HEDprogram.org
To learn about global and regional workforce development projects see:
EQUIP3/Youth Trust: engages and prepares out-of-school youth for their roles within the world of work, civil society and family life through strengthening youth and youth-serving organizations, including nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, private businesses, and education and training providers.
Youth Work: International Youth Foundation: prepares youth in Latin America and the Caribbean for jobs in the information technology field.
Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance: advances the state-of-the-practice in sustainable tourism development and allied fields; and assists USAID Missions and other operating units to design and implement innovative, integrated, and market-based tourism approaches that will foster sustainable futures for individuals, including youth, local communities, and societies in USAID-presence countries.
Higher Education for Development (HED): supports the worldwide development goals of USAID, primarily by coordinating the engagement of the higher education community to address development challenges. HED in cooperation with the USAID and the U.S. Department of State establishes workforce and entrepreneurial partnerships between U.S. community colleges and technical and vocations schools and centers in developing countries.
Education and Employment Alliance (EEA) in Asia and the Middle East: works in six countries with high youth unemployment rates—Egypt, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan and the Philippines—to develop and expand quality education, job training and placement programs.
Global Workforce in Transition (GWIT) (Activity ended 2007): provides expertise and support to USAID Missions, Bureaus and other operating units in developing sound workforce development systems that support economic growth and poverty reduction and increase countries’ competitiveness in the global marketplace.
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